I was feeling pretty creatively dry this morning when my irl (that's in real life) friend, Leah, asked me what my WFMW post was going to be about. I told her I had no idea and that she should tell me what to write about! So thanks, Leah! This ones for you! :)
There are certain times I feel overwhelmed with housework (yes, hard to believe, I know). My sister and I sometimes refer to the work we do on those days as housekeeping "give a mouse a cookie" style. You know what I mean. I have to unload the dishwasher so I can clean off the counter. I clean off the counter and realize that I have to throw a bunch of wrappers away. Throwing the wrappers away will remind me to take out the trash. While taking out the trash I will trip over the shoes that need to be put away. Putting away the shoes will prompt me to tidy up the kids' rooms. Then laundry, then tidying up the playroom, then rotating laundry, then organizing the spice rack...they all snowball and you only started out by unloading the dishwasher! Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about here! Before you know it you've been working your tail off and have no idea what you've accomplished, but you're sure it was something!
Some days I do housework like that. Other days I try to be a little more intentional about finishing a room (easier in my smaller house). This is my more calm way of doing housework. I set a timer for 5, 10 or 15 minutes depending on how motivated I am. (Yes, for you flybabies, this idea is originally from FlyLady, just to give credit where credit is due!) I stay in one room and crank out as much work as I can do in the alloted time. When the timer goes off I move to another room with my timer clipped on my jean's pocket and start there. After just that little bit of concentrated time on one room you can stand back and be amazed at what you've accomplished!
At this point over 100 other bloggers are sharing what works for them. If my idea doesn't work for you, go over here and see if there is something else that will!
6 comments:
oh, yes, "Give a mouse a cookie" is definitely my cleaning style.
I'm pretty sure I only Give A Mouse a Cookie clean. I LOVE that. The naming of it, not doing it. I'll have to give the timer a try, I never got past shining my sink on Flylady.
Love the comparison to "Give a mouse a cookie", maybe I can even explain housekeeping to my children that way!
You are so clever. I never thought about "Give a mouse a cookie" cleaning, but that's exactly what I do, and the source of frustration because of what you described- I can't remember what I accomplished! Thanks for shedding light on this so that perhaps we can give ourselves a little grace, and then determine to walk more deliberately.
Tara, this is a great post! Great idea! :)
I'm here from WFMW, this is great advice. Breaking up the cleaning in to manageable chunks of time is so much less overwhelming.
Love the mouse a cookie analogy!
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